Pennsbury 5, Neshaminy 3
LANGHORNE – Kelsi Bunda’s eyes widened and her face lit up with a smile when the subject of sophomore pitcher Val Buehler came up after Saturday’s 5-3 win over Neshaminy.
“Val really came out as a sophomore,” the Pennsbury senior said. “She was bringing the fire.
“She was nervous – we know she was nervous, but overall, she did a fabulous job.”
“She worked hard and kept pushing,” teammate Danielle Fox said of Buehler. “We kept cheering her on – don’t get down, and it worked. For a sophomore, she did amazing.”
Buehler allowed nine hits but always seemed to make the big pitch when her team needed it most.
“We said to them afterwards, ‘Listen, we understand there are five sophomores in the infield, and you’re all in a position you’ve never been in before. You step into this game, and you have never been in a big game like this with Pennsbury,’ but a sophomore in the circle – there’s a little more pressure,” Falcon coach Frank McSherry said. “I think Val has just done a great job against a great hitting team.
“They’re scary. There are times we don’t know what to throw. We call something and hope for the best. Seriously, that is the truth because they’re such a good hitting team, but we did enough.”
Saturday morning’s showdown was played in front of packed sidelines, and it was another war between the neighboring rivals, who came into the game as the lone SOL squads without a loss.
“This is huge,” Fox said. “When we work out in the winter, we would dream of this – Neshaminy, Neshaminy, Neshaminy. All the way back in January, and now it’s here, and we did it.”
“It’s huge for us as seniors,” Bunda added. “To bring all the sophomores up and share it with them is even bigger.
“The fans really pump you up. Just hitting the fences and both teams going at it – it’s an amazing feeling.”
The game actually started out on a promising note for the Redskins, who delighted their fans by jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Courtney Clee – who doubled – scored on Sarah McGowan’s sacrifice fly.
“I think we were more mentally prepared and loose for this game than we were in a long time,” Neshaminy coach Dave Chichilitti said. “You saw that coming out - we were loose, we were in it, we were upbeat. It seems the bounce always goes the other way.”
The bounces certainly didn’t go Neshaminy’s way in a disastrous fourth inning that saw the Falcons plate four runs – all unearned – with the benefit of just one hit.
The inning began innocently enough with a groundout to short, but Bunda followed with a tough at-bat, fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches and working a fullcount before lining a single over second.
“Pretty much we’re trying to bring the heat, bring the fire because our coach is always saying, ‘You’ve got to bring the fire,’” Bunda said. “Once I get on, I know the girls behind me will move me over, and we’ll score.”
“That was a great at-bat,” McSherry said of Bunda’s single. “Sarah(McGowan) is so tough. She throws so many pitches, and she throws so hard. You don’t know what to expect.
“Conversely, you know you’re playing a good team you have to play good defense. We’re really proud of the way our kids played defense yesterday and today in back-to-back games.”
The problems began for the Redskins when Fox’s grounder to the right side was misplayed and Jess Greenewald drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Errors on grounders by Taylor Bidlingmaier and D’Anna Devine were sandwiched around an RBI groundout by Michelle George. By the time the inning was over, the Falcons led 4-1, and the Redskins were fighting an uphill battle.
They got themselves back in the game in the fifth. Clee poked a one-out single over the infield, and Laura Altenberger followed with a single to right. Clee scored on a wild pitch, and when Lauren Quense delivered a clutch two-out RBI single to right, it was a 4-3 game.
But not for long.
The Falcons added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Suzanne Swanicke - who picked up a one-out single – scored on Fox’s clutch two-out single to center, giving the Falcons a 5-3 edge.
“When I got up, I was just thinking – ‘One run is not enough. I need to do something so we can get that insurance run,’” Fox said.
McSherry was not surprised to see his team respond to Neshaminy’s comeback.
“Again today we did what we did yesterday against Council Rock North,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Dominique Pinto hit a three-run bomb to make it a 4-3 game, and we come up in our very next at-bat and Suzanne Swanicke hits a three-run bomb, so we answered back.
“When they cut it to 4-3, our kids came back in the seventh inning and tacked on another one. They didn’t get nervous about it, they just tacked on another run. You can do a lot of things when you’re down by one that you can’t do when you’re down by two. That was so important.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Quense ripped a two-out double down the third base line, and Brianna Guidos followed with a single to left, but Buehler slammed the door on any comeback thoughts when she induced a grounder to third to end the game.
The Redskins held a 9-7 advantage in hits, but they also held an edge in another department – errors. They had four while the Falcons had none.
“It’s hard to know that we played 85 percent of the game better than that team did, and in that one inning, a ball didn’t leave the infield, and they scored four runs,” Chichilleti said. “It’s also a tribute to their coaching, but you can’t have an inning like that.”
The two teams will meet again on May 18. Stay tuned.
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